Tezpur - Cultural Heritage

Cultural Heritage

Tezpur is considered to be the cultural capital of Assamese culture. Being from the core Assamese cultural region, the town has produced many stalwarts such as Dr. Bhupen Hazarika, Jyoti Prasad Agarwala (1903–51), Kalaguru Bishnu Prasad Rabha (1909–69), Phani Sarma (1909–70) and Ananda Chandra Agarwala (1874–1939).

Kalaguru Bishnuprasad Rabha (1909–69): Bishnuprasad Rabha was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh on January 31, 1909. His father Gopal Chandra Rabha was in the British Police and the family was financially sound. Bishnu Rabha spent his childhood in Dhaka and started his primary education in Bengali medium there. After the primary schooling his family shifted permanatly to Tezpur, Assam. Bishnu Rabha started his high school education in Tezpur Government High School. From the same school he passed in flying colors and went to Calcutta for higher education. He completed the ISC exam successfully from St. Paul's Mission College and joined prestigious Ripon college in Calcutta for BSc.

Bishnu Rabha was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and others in 1930. He actively participated in the freedom movement and this affected his education. He wrote many slogans and hoisted Indian tricolour flags in many government buildings in Calcutta. This forced the British police to issue a non-bailable warrant against him. Bishnu Rabha fled from Calcutta to Tezpur and started his activities from there. He led Assam in the freedom movement while expressing his inborn artistic talents. He donated all his inherited 2500 bighas of land to the poor farmers. Popularly known as Kala Guru ( Assamese: কলা গুৰু) he himself used to write his name as "BISHNU PRASAD RAVA". He was a multifaceted artist and revolutionary singer of Assam. A doyen of the Arts, from an early stage, he played an active role in the struggle for Indian independence. However, he never joined Indian National Congress. He believed - the Congress is a party of the bourgeoisie and so its struggle against British imperialism is fraught with compromises. He came to be influenced by left wing ideas and came close to the Communist Party of India. However, when Germany attacked Soviet Union during World War II and the Indian Communists decided to work with the British government, a section of the party favoured a different approach - to oppose British imperialism and Fascism simultaneously. So a split happened in the Communist party and in 1945 he finally joined the Revolutionary Communist Party of India (RCPI). In 1951, after the death of Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, he became the president of the Assam branch of Indian Peoples' Theatre Association (IPTA). Comrade Rava was elected as a Member of the Assam Legislative Assembly from Tezpur for the term 1967-72 but untimely he passed away on the 20th June 1969.

Bishnu Rabha always worked for the upliftment of his own society. All his writings, songs, arts are just by product of that. The books wriiten by hime like His achievements like Axomiya Kristir Somu Abhax (An outline of the Assamese culture), Axomiya Kristi (The Assamese culture), and Mukti Deol (The temple of freedom) are reflections of his socialistic notions. His residence is still a cultural hub consisting of a recording studio.

Jyoti Prasad Agarwalla(1903–51): Known as 'Rupkonwar' (Prince of Beauty) to the Assamese, Agarwala's main artistic and political journey begins in the 1930s. He dedicated himself fully to the freedom movement. He was even jailed for 15 months and fined 500 rupees for his active involvement in the struggle for independence. Meanwhile he kept on working for the artistic and cultural upliftment of the Assamese society.

Jyoti Prasad Agarwala started writing since the age of 14 years only. At that time he wrote down the famous play 'Sonit-Konwari'. For next few years during his student days he wrote many short stories. Agarwala was focused on studying child psychology. He wrote many stories for children. Some other plays written by him are Rupalim, Karengar Ligiri, and Lobhita. Agarwala wrote more than 300 poems and set music to most of them. This song collection is known as Jyoti Sangeet. It became a new genre of music itself in Assam in later days.

Agarwala is considered the father of Assamese film. He invested a huge amount of time and his own money into it. He had a studio called 'Chitrban' set up at the Bholaguri tea estate in Tezpur in 1934. The film 'Joymati' was shot there and released in 1935, starring Phani Sarma (1909–70). In 1939 Agarwala made the second Assamese movie 'Indramalati'. He also built a cinema hall called 'Junaki' opened in Tezpur in 1937. Another contribution of Agarwala is the publication of the newspaper 'Axomiya' from 1944 and onwards. He also established an Assamese music school in Tezpur. The Assamese poet Chandra Kumar Agarwala was his uncle. While Agarwala was in the charge of Tamulbari tea estate of Dibrugarh, the same place where he was born, he suffered from cancer and died merely 48 years old on 17 June 1951. His death anniversary is calebrated as 'Jyoti Divas' in Assam on June 17 every year.